Long COVID-19 Increases Risk of Heart Disease

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Highlights:

• Approximately, one in every seven people in the United States suffered from long COVID-19
• People with long COVID-19 are more likely to experience breathing difficulty or heart problems
• This suggests that clinicians should be aware that cardiac problems can occur in patients with long COVID-19 and they should do additional investigations if a patient complains of these symptoms

Experiencing lasting symptoms months after catching COVID-19, also known as long COVID-19, more than doubles a person's likelihood of developing cardiovascular issues revealed a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session Together With the World Congress of Cardiology.

Prevalence of Long COVID-19

The study, which included a systematic review and meta-analysis of 11 significant studies involving a total of 5.8 million people, is the most thorough effort to date to investigate cardiovascular problems associated with chronic COVID. Estimates of the number of people afflicted by long COVID-19 vary greatly, but recent surveys estimate that around one in every seven people in the United States has had long COVID-19.

Cardiac Symptoms in Long COVID-19

Individuals with long COVID-19 were significantly more likely than those who had never had COVID-19 to experience symptoms associated with heart problems such as chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations, and fatigue, as well as to show markers of heart disease or elevated cardiovascular risk in medical imaging and diagnostic tests.

Can COVID-19 Affect the Heart

"COVID-19 is more than a simple respiratory disease- it is a syndrome that can affect the heart," said Joanna Lee, a medical student at David Tvildiani Medical University in Tbilisi, Georgia, a scholar at the Global Remote Research Scholars Program (GRRSP) and the study's lead author. "Clinicians should be aware that cardiac complications can exist and investigate further if a patient complains of these symptoms, even a long time after contracting COVID-19. For patients, if you had COVID-19 and you continue to have difficulty breathing or any kind of new heart problems, you should go to the doctor and get it checked out."

GRRSP researchers methodically evaluated 982 studies published between 2020 and 2022 and chose 74 for a thorough review. They found 11 papers that provided information on cardiovascular outcomes in patients with lengthy COVID as well as a control group of participants who had never had COVID-19. Around 450,000 of the more than 5.8 million participants in the 11 studies developed heart problems. The rate of cardiac problems was 2.3-2.5 times greater in those with long COVID-19 compared to those in the control group.

‘People with long COVID-19 had 2.3-2.5 times the rate of cardiac issues than people who did not experience long COVID-19.’

"Coordinated efforts among primary care providers, emergency room staff and cardiologists could help with early detection and mitigation of cardiac complications among long COVID-19 patients," Lee said.

Although the study did not investigate the probable biological reasons underlying the link between long COVID-19 and heart issues, researchers speculated that chronic inflammation, as evidenced by continuously high inflammatory markers in persons with long COVID, could be a cause. They also mentioned that the significant level of diversity between research in terms of population and data collection methods hindered their capacity to draw conclusive findings, which is a typical problem with COVID-19-related studies because of the paucity of long-term data.

Researchers intend to do additional studies to determine whether patients with prior cardiovascular disease have different cardiovascular risks from extended COVID-19 than the general population.

Source: Medindia

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